ManBookering discussion

This thread is to discuss A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa.

I loved this one. For all these books, we rely heavily on the translator, of course, to give us not just the story but the feeling behind it. I felt that worked here: I loved the writing (and, therefore, by association, the translation) and I found the story very engaging.

Impressed with this one, although suspect it will fall just outside my personal shortlist for the MBI 2016.

One interesting feature to me was how the different stories and characters proved to be linked. A chapter documenting one such link is entitled "the subtle architecture of chance", but in practice the connections multiply to an extent that they rather stretch the reader's credence, culminating in a brief set piece scene where they all, somehow, coincidentally arrive simultaneously at the central characters apartment.

The coincidences are so exaggerated that one assumes Agualusa did this for deliberate artistic effect: as one character notes ""A man with a good story is practically a king."

Paul wrote: "Impressed with this one, although suspect it will fall just outside my personal shortlist for the MBI 2016.

One interesting feature to me was how the different stories and characters proved to be ..."

I agree: it did feel a bit odd when all the characters arrived in the same place at the same time, but, like you, I assumed this was deliberate and I decided to go with it (probably because I was enjoying the book overall).

I just finished this book and how I loved it! I read it in Portuguese and the writing is just so beautiful that every translator must have had a hard time keeping its beauty. Curious to take a look on the English version...

Also, very interesting to see how Agualusa was able to navigate through different cultures... Loved seeing the references to Brazilian culture.

This was my second Agualusa having read The Book of Chameleons last year, and my experience of this one was very similar. It started off very interesting and felt like a good idea but then I started to become less and less interested in the plot. It all feels very rushed, with very little characterisation. It almost feels like a screenplay. What I liked about Chameleons was the lightness, but it was all lightness. I wanted to give Agualusa another try, but again this book is all light, there was nothing to get hold of. Enchanted but not engrossed.

Alan, if I'm not mistaken, you are right when you mentined it being screenplayish... Agualusa first tackled this story as a request to make a movie. Then, when the movie didn't happen, he turned into a book.

I was very interested in Ludo's story, and overall I really enjoyed the book. For such a short book though, I felt that there were a lot of characters introduced, and I lost a bit of interest towards the middle. It came together at the end for the most part, and I love how the main character emerges from powerless/a victim to controlling her own destiny.